Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Statue of Senwosret III Standing in a Devotional Attitude
Middle Kingdom
Not on view
This object is not part of The Met collection. It was in the Museum for a special exhibition and has been returned to the lender.
King Senwosret III is depicted in a pose of prayer or reverence, with arms outstretched over a stiff, triangular kilt. The statue was placed in the cult temple of the pharaoh Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II, founder of the Middle Kingdom, who was venerated as a powerful leader who had restored unity to Egypt after a period of turmoil, though he was not a direct ancestor of Senwosret III. Five other statues of Senwosret III were also placed in the temple, along with a red granite stela that shows him worshipping the god Amun and a deified Mentuhotep II. The statues may have originally stood around a courtyard in the Mentuhotep temple or in a columned hall; they were later thrown into the temple’s south court.
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